Uncategorized

The False Claims Act (“FCA”) is the primary vehicle used by the Federal Government to protect itself against fraud.  The FCA permits a private whistleblower (a “Relator”) to sue a contractor in the name of the United States, and to be awarded a portion of the damages recovered by the government.  That is exactly what a former employee attempted to do when he brought a claim against the largest contractor for the United States Army,…

A litigant who files a very aggressive lawsuit can sometimes slow down, rather than advance, his or her case.  That is exactly what happened to a retired physician and his irrevocable trust, after they brought suit in Virginia Federal Court against five separate defendants in order to recover over $1 million allegedly defrauded from them.  The case is Cook v. John Hancock Life Ins. Co. The dispute in the case arises out of the physician’s

According to a recent ruling in a case of first impression arising out of the Norfolk Division of the Eastern District of Virginia, a defendant who is a citizen of the forum state cannot remove a diversity case to federal court, even if the defendant has not yet been served with formal process, because to hold otherwise would be “absurd.” In Campbell v. Hampton Bankshares, Inc., et al., two Virginia banks were sued by their